Month: January 2021

The Barclay Arrival+ card used to award 2.2% on spend when points were redeemed for travel, and used to be an OK card mostly for that reason alone. They nerfed it a few years ago, but I slacked and redeemed outstanding points for the annual fee rather than closing it like I should have. Now, Barclay is helping procrastinators like me by allowing you to redeem your points to cover charges at gas and grocery stores, minimum $50. I’ll be doing that and closing the card ASAP, if you still have one — prolly do the same. Get the Citi DoubleCash as a no-fee, better alternative.

But more importantly, please internalize a tip that affiliate bloggers can’t write about: Call and ask for a retention offer on every premium card you have at least once a year. You’ll get one more often than not and often they can be quite large, like sign-up bonus large. The language I usually use is “I’m thinking of closing this card given its large annual fee, but before I make a decision, I was checking to see if there are any retention or spending offers available”.

My Barclays Arrival+ getting ready to leave the sea of my sock drawer.

1. Have an American Express card? Sign up for National Executive Elite through February 2023. The status game is basically a hamster wheel, but National EE status is usually worthwhile at major airports for getting a car other than a gold Toyota Camry with 98,000 miles. Don’t book with National just because you have this status though, only use it when National has the best price (or the second best price if the best price is with FOX Rent-a-Car).

2. Blah blah blah, I know. Southwest has a fare sale about every 4 days, but this time it’s actually worth looking at. Fares start at $29 per one-way, and you’ll have to book by tomorrow (January 7, 2021).

A cow standing in a desert.
Southwest can fly you to see this cow for only $29.

1. Hot on the heels of yesterday’s AmEx Master Value Injection for Personal Platinum cards, there’s an MVI for Business Platinums as well. The injection comes in the form of +4 points, up to 80,000 miles for certain categories as AmEx Offers. Check for them in gas, office supply, advertising, telecom/internet, and shipping. (Incidentally, there are good new offers on the Personal Platinum too, check for $50 off of $50 at BestBuy, $50 off of $100 at Home Depot, etc.)

2. Get Alaska Airlines gift cards for 10% off at Costco. These will be good for years, or for the lifetime of Alaska Airlines depending on your state’s gift card laws. This is a nice way to save on upcoming paid travel in 2021 or 2022. But, I wouldn’t hold them longer than that, a low cost index fund is a much better investment than a fledgling airline’s gift card. I’m not aware of card exchanges that will buy these quickly, so the easy gift card resale angle probably isn’t there on this one.

3. I’m sure you’ve already heard: Virgin Atlantic kersploded its award chart for Delta redemptions. You probably haven’t heard: ANA awards with Virgin Atlantic miles can’t be far behind; I’d book any fledgling miles on ANA flights for late 2021 or early 2022 as soon as practical, otherwise you may find yourself sitting on a pile of worthless miles; yes, worth less than even SkyMiles.

Kerbal Space Program demonstrates the Virgin Atlantic award chart kersplosion.

The American Express Master Value Injection (MVI) is back for 2021 for Personal Platinum cards at least. They now give up to $30 per month in PayPal statement credits, which I guess is a barely passable replacement for PayPal Key no longer working with AmEx. Call it the Master Value Injection 2.0. This is good from January 1 through June 30, giving you 6 months * $30/month or $180 in total credits per Personal Platinum.

I personally would buy discounted gift cards for resale from anywhere but PayPal Digital Gifts when a deal comes up, or use Fluz with PayPal checkout to liquidate these credits. I suppose you could also be basic and liquidate via real purchases. Fluz has a pyramid scheme built into it, so find a friend for a referral if you haven’t used it before, or contact me for one if you don’t know anyone else.

There’s some bad news too though. American Express is again charging the excise tax for transferring miles to US based travel partners (Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue). Call it the Master Value De-Injection. Ok, so this resumption was due to the CARES act suspending the taxes until 12/31/2020, not AmEx directly; but whatever, I still blame AmEx for charging it in the first place.

A nurse's hand injecting a syringe with clear liquid into a woman's arm.
American Express (left) injects “Master Value” into you as a Platinum card holder (right). Since businesses don’t have arms, this doesn’t work on the Business Platinum.

Do this now: Register your Chase partner cards for bonus miles at grocery, gas, drug stores, and/or at Amazon.

These offers are per month, Jan, Feb, and Mar 2021. As per usual, Visa, Mastercard, or BestBuy gift cards are your best options for liquidation at Grocery and BestBuy at Amazon, if you don’t have the organic spend already happening.

Hyatt card:

  • 5x at Amazon
  • 3x at Grocery
  • Max $1,500 per month combined (hit Amazon first)

United card:

  • 5x at Gas, Grocery, and Drug Stores
  • Max $1,500 per month combined

IHG card:

  • 5x at Gas, Grocery, and Drug Stores
  • Max $1,500 per month combined

All three Avios cards:

  • 15,000 bonus Avios after $5,000 spend
  • One time spread over all 3 months

Marriott cards:

  • 5x at Gas, Grocery, and Drug Stores
  • Max $1,500 per month combined
The Chase “bonus matrix”, presented with my apologies for being that kind of nerd.